Mohamed A. El-Erian, Chief Economic Adviser at Allianz and a member of its International Executive Committee, is Chairman of President Barack Obama’s Global Development Council. He previously served as CEO and co-Chief Investment Officer of PIMCO. He was named one of Foreign Policy's Top 100 Global Thinke… read more

Comments

"Ultimately, there can be no strong Germany without a stable eurozone; no stable eurozone without a strong Germany; and no global economic stability without both. It is time for Europeans to make the difficult longer-term choices that are critical to sustaining and enhancing their historical regional project."

Having revisited Keynes in general and his book of 1919 "the economic consequences of the peace" in particular,

http://tinyurl.com/btg8dx9

I find continuity in Europ's quagmire - with Germany again in the forefront, although in a different way. Today, how can a European market economy emerge with each member state clinging to its soverainty, governed by its own political, institutional and social system? Each country cannot produce the same goods and services in competition with each other. If Europ is to become some day, in the near or far future, a "nation", there has be specialisation and sharing. And as the world will continue to evolve, this requires that the more efficient and successful support those most affected by the changes. Read more

You have to understand an ordoliberal mindset. The question is not if the house wins or loses. The question is if the situation is under control and the relations are reliable. In economics we could always twist the argument. The politically irresponsible reaction to austerity measures is blaming the creditors. Thus, the real crisis is responsible governance and reliability. We are already in a mode where the EU treaty is broken . Austerity is the appropriate control measure for a situation which was illegal under the treaties. In a state of exception Germans desire a swift return to order. Read more

All politics is local. The recent drubbing of Merkel's party in the polls virtually assures that there will be no change in Germany's insistence on austerity as the bitter antidote for Europe's ills (notwithstanding serious doubts as to the antidote's efficacy). The German public may be sympathetic to pro-growth policies but only in the domestic context. Otherwise, the reluctance to bail out feckless Greeks and Spaniards remains as strong as ever. Read more

I think before assuming that Germany is going to take on this role we have to analyse the historical background to EU's formation. Given how Europe has dealt with inter-country conflicts in the past (i.e. world wars), I don't see how this assumption can have any viability.... Read more

I think the last paragraph is the most important:"...Ultimately, there can be no strong Germany without a stable eurozone; no stable eurozone without a strong Germany; and no global economic stability without both. It is time for Europeans to make the difficult longer-term choices that are critical to sustaining and enhancing their historical regional project..."If we take seriously what we learn about our global system, that we are "all sitting on the same boat", we are interconnected and interdependent, than is there any possibility that there would eminent individuals, or nations that could pull away from the rest?Even the crisis we are in now is our common responsibility, Germany is just as responsible for the Greek and Spanish woes as the Greek and Spanish themselves.We all live in the same illusory system of constant growth and prosperity in a closed finite system.We all think that quantitative growth is the most important measure of our progress instead of a qualitative, mutual integration, providing each and everybody with necessities that are the basic conditions in our global, integral system, since I cannot prosper, progress unless the whole system is in balance and functions optimally.The first step in the recovery process is actually understanding the new system we exist in and our role in it. Read more

Robert Skidelsky
on why the right economic policies cannot work without the right public expectations.

Project Syndicate provides readers with original, engaging, and thought-provoking commentaries by global leaders and thinkers. By offering incisive perspectives from those who are shaping the world's economics, politics, science, and culture, Project Syndicate has created an unrivaled global venue for informed public debate.